NSFW, an acronym for Not Safe for Work is a play that questions the way girls and women are represented in the media, especially in magazine journalism, says Toronto actress Jessica Greenberg.
It examines “issues of privacy and consent and how those things are impacted by digital technology in the time of Photoshop and social media,” says Greenberg who plays Charlotte in Studio 180 Theatre’s North American premiere of NSFW, written by British playwright Lucy Kirkwood, running until Nov. 30 at The Theatre Centre.
“The play juxtaposes two fictionalized magazine cultures. One is a magazine called Doghouse, which is a men’s magazine. It is mainstream, kind of like a version of Maxim, and because it is set in the United Kingdom where censorship and standards are different, I would think there is more actual nudity than you would see in a comparable North American magazine.”
According to Greenberg, the other magazine, Electra, is an upmarket woman’s magazine catering to a well-educated, middle-class, empowered clientele, which focuses on fashion, beauty, and some politics. She says it is similar to Canada’s Chatelaine magazine.
“The structure of the play is pretty interesting,” explains the actress. “We start out in Doghouse and then we move to Electra. What it uncovers is that [the Electra] culture isn’t necessarily any better for women than Doghouse. Even the images we consume in mainstream media that, as female consumers, we want, we have to think more critically about what those images are doing to us, how damaging they are and how they play on all of our fears of inadequacy.”
Charlotte is an intelligent, hardworking, Oxford educated 25-year-old aspiring journalist who works at Doghouse. Although she is conflicted, she takes the job because she knows how hard it is to find work even after spending three years paying her dues as an unpaid intern.
“Questions of consent are really important in this play and I think there is an opportunity to provoke much more critical and nuanced conversation about consent than we have been traditionally having in our culture,” says Greenberg.
“I would love audiences to think more critically about the media we consume, and what we are saying about our values and our priorities when we are complicit in a culture that perpetuates unattainable, false and damaging images of women.
“None of this probably comes as any surprise, it is nothing new that images are doctored…and yet we still participate. I don’t know what it is going to take for our culture to move ahead. I hope that this play can be part of that conversation though.”
Greenberg says the most important pieces of her Jewish identity come from the responsibility she feels to work toward a more socially just society. “I believe in healing the world and that’s where I connect most to the religion. Not that those are exclusively Jewish values, but they are a big part of Judaism and that for me is what resonates the most and that’s the work that inspires [Charlotte] the most.”
Greenberg is a core artistic team member and artist educator for Studio 180 Theatre and heads the company’s education and outreach initiatives.
She has co-ordinated a lobby art exhibit during the run of NSFW called Reposing Beauty curated by Feminist Art Conference, and an after-show panel discussion with female journalists on Nov. 18 about maintaining your integrity in the media co-presented by Toronto magazine, Shameless.
First produced at the Royal Court Theatre in England in 2012, this production runs from Nov. 7 to 30 at The Theatre Centre.
The ensemble cast includes Ian D. Clark, Susan Coyne, Patrick Galligan, James Graham and Aaron Stern. The play is directed by Joel Greenberg.
Tickets to see NSFW are available by calling 416-907-0468 or online at www.studio180theatre.com.
